This chapter considers the behavioral practice of prime use. As was the case with the treatment of manufacture and distribution in Chapter 3, the aim of this chapter is not to present a comprehensive discussion of this behavioral practice, which by itself represents a subject worthy of book-length treatment, but rather the more limited goal of identifying and describing those aspects that played a direct role in governing the formation of the Roman pottery record. Two such aspects are here addressed: the loci of prime use, and vessel use-life.

The loci of prime use

As defined in Chapter 1, prime use entails the use of a vessel for the purpose for which it was manufactured. Although there is no evidence that permits one to develop useful estimates for the portion of Roman pottery that was disposed of by means of recycling or discard in the context of manufacture, distribution, prime use, and reuse, it seems inherently likely that the portion disposed of in the context of prime use was substantially greater than the portion disposed of in the context of any of the other three.

Although Roman pottery would have been employed for its prime-use application in a variety of different behavioral loci, for purposes of discussion it is possible to reduce these to three general categories of loci, indicating for each a set of functional categories of pottery that were likely to have been employed there in significant quantities on a routine basis:

1. Agricultural compounds (dolia, amphorae).

2. Facilities for the wholesale/storage or bulk retail of foodstuffs (dolia, amphorae).

3. […]